Police accuse 4 of Liberty car burglaries

LIBERTY — Jose Castillo's family knew right away someone had been in their car.

Leonard Sparks

LIBERTY —— Jose Castillo's family knew right away someone had been in their car.

Floor mats allegedly had been lifted up and items inside tossed, leaving the inside of the car disheveled. Other residents of Liberty Commons, the Village of Liberty townhouse complex where Castillo lives, also awoke to find their cars allegedly had been invaded overnight.

Nothing was stolen from the Castillo family's car, but other residents found GPS units, cell phones and cash and even spare change allegedly missing.

"It's not only that they stole stuff; they left a mess," Castillo said. "Not only that, they took away our sense of security."

Dozens of village residents were left with the same sense of loss last month when, during a four-day period, thieves raided unlocked cars in an unusually large larceny spree.

Village police arrested four people. Three of them, two teenagers and a 20-year-old, were charged with larcenies at Liberty Commons and the area around the complex. Another man was charged with looting cars in the West Lake Street and Fairway Avenue areas.

Roughly 35-40 car larcenies were reported between Jan. 13 and Jan. 16, said Steve D'Agata, a detective with the Village of Liberty police department.

"On the 13th, 14th and 15th, it was every night that we were having this problem," he said of the January spree.

Village police arrested two 17-year-old males Jan. 18, charging them with seven counts of petty larceny and five counts of attempted petty larceny involving cars at Liberty Commons, on Carrier and Upper South Main streets and on Upper Ferndale Road.

Four days later police arrested Laron Dinkins, 20, and charged him in connection with the same spree.

Police arrested Joseph Stringfellow, 31, in the West Lake Street, Fairway Avenue larcenies Jan. 16, charging him with tampering with physical evidence, a felony, two counts of petty larceny and eight counts of attempted petty larceny in those cases.

Officers apparently caught Stringfellow in the act of stealing money from a car parked in a driveway. He allegedly fled, but was nabbed when police followed footprints he left in the snow. Those prints led police to his apartment, where officers found stolen items, they said.